For a person who is trying to decide about what location to reside, work, or stay at (for example, buying a house, renting an apartment, or finding a hotel or AirBnB®) there is currently no simple tool to help understand the advantages and disadvantages of those locations for accessing transportation. The increasing number of people in urban areas who choose not to use private cars need a tool allowing them to easily understand the quality of transportation choices with a simple number.
There is a special need for a tool that produces a numeric score that can be used for assessment, visualization (e.g., on maps), comparison, and planning. Planning practitioners, researchers and policymakers can use a score to map cities' supply-based transportation accessibility. Transportation providers can use a score to site transportation. Real estate developers and investors can use a score to make decisions about real estate purchases or transactions.
At present, few comprehensive tools are available; there are certain websites like Google® Maps that will show public transportation, and some apps show a subset of options. These options are typically displayed as a listing, and no overall assessment is given.